him whether Tadek had ever applied to the university.”
“And Andy Constant kept those records in the Drama Studio?”
“Yes, he did.” Although she was speaking absolute truth, Jude found herself blushing like the biggest liar on earth.
“I see,” said Carole witheringly. “Anyway, that ties in with what I found out from Melanie Newton. About the connection with the University of Clincham.”
“Yes, I haven’t congratulated you properly yet on tracking her down. That was a brilliant bit of detective work.”
Carole glowed in the beam of the compliment, which also, as Jude had intended, took the focus off her own discomfiture. “Oh, it was Gerald Hume who gave me the lead. Once I’d got the photo from him, the rest was straightforward.”
“I’m still impressed.”
“Well, thank you.” Now it was Carole’s turn to blush.
“So I don’t think it would be too great a leap of logic to conclude that the girl from the University of Clincham with whom Tadek fell in love was the one who had taken the guitar from his room. And who then handed it over when Andy Constant asked them to bring instruments.”
“So who would that be? One of his Drama set, obviously. And the only one we know about of those is Sophia Urquhart.”
There’s also the mysterious Joan. The one I said he was having an affair with?
“I thought you said he denied having an affair with her.”
“Yes, but Andy Constant is not the kind of man whose truthfulness I’d trust very far in matters of relationships. He’s a born liar.”
“So you haven’t even met this Joan?”
“Well, I wonder…You remember that day when we went to see Andy up at the college, and he took us for coffee?”
“Yes.”
“The girl who came to fetch him…do you remember her?”
“Dark-haired? Looked a bit Spanish?”
Jude nodded. “I saw her with him again just before that show I went to see. And she was in the pub afterwards, but then I didn’t notice her there when Sophia gave Andy the message about Joan not being able to make it. I reckon there’s a strong chance she’s the one.”
“So how do we contact her?”
“Through the college – or university or whatever it wants to call itself.”
“We didn’t have much luck there when we were trying to find out about Tadek.”
“No, but he’d never been enrolled. We’ve got more to go on with this girl. We know what she looks like, we know she’s studying Drama with Andy Constant and we know her first name’s Joan.”
“Any idea of her second name?”
“No…” Jude suddenly remembered. “But I’ve got the programme for
She rose excitedly from her sofa, but in the hall met an equally excited Zofia running downstairs, clutching Jude’s laptop. “I’ve heard from Pavel!” the girl shouted.
“What, about the songs?”
“Yes. He’s back from – Krakow, he reply to my email. And we were correct. Tadek did write a song to his English girl. He sent a copy to Pavel.”
“Do you have the lyrics for it?”
“Better. I have a recording.” Zofia bustled into the sitting room and, after a quick greeting to Carole, placed the laptop on a pile of books on one of Jude’s cluttered coffee tables. “You are ready to hear it?”
“Yes, please,” said both women eagerly.
Zofia pressed a key and from the laptop’s tiny speakers came the strumming of an acoustic guitar. Then followed a voice, an innocent light tenor, singing in heavily accented English.
Carole and Jude exchanged satisfied looks as their suspicions were confirmed. Tadek’s song went into its chorus.
There was a silence as the song ended. Tears glinted in Zofia’s eyes. Hearing her brother’s voice sounding so close and real brought home to her once again the hard fact of her loss. To fight off sentiment, she said in matter- of-fact tones, “I think that is Tadek’s first attempt to write a song in English.”
“Then it’s pretty good,” Jude assured her.
“And,” said Carole, “it also confirms the suspicion we’ve had about who his mystery woman is.” They quickly brought the girl up to speed with their thinking, and told her about the pretty dark-haired girl they had seen at the University of Clincham.
“Then I must see her,” said Zofia immediately. “I must go to the university and talk to her.”
“Exactly what we were thinking.”
“But we must be careful,” Carole cautioned. “If she has something to hide, she’s going to be on the lookout.”
“Yes, she doesn’t want anyone to make the connection between her and your brother,” said Jude. “I think she has already gone some way to cover her tracks.”
The girl looked puzzled. “I’m sorry. I do not understand.”
“Look, you say your brother was devoted to his guitar?”
“Yes.”
“So, however much he loved a girl, he’d never give it to her, would he?”
“No.”
“Which means that if – as seems likely – this Joan was the one who gave the guitar to Andy Constant, she must have got it without your brother’s knowledge. Marek said, when he waited in Tadek’s room on the day he died there were no signs of his music, no guitar, no CDs, no tapes. I think Joan must have gone into the room and cleared it all out.”
“Because it would link him to her?” Carole nodded. “Yes, that makes sense. And if she did do that, it means she must have known that he was dead…or about to die. So she either killed him herself or at least knows who did.”
“I think, Zosia,” said Jude, “that you should get back to your brother’s friend Pavel again. He might know more about this Joan. After all, if, as we think, they got together at the music festival in Leipzig, then Pavel might well have met her.”
“Yes, that is good idea. But we must see her as soon as possible,” said Zofla urgently. “We know she is called Joan. Do we have her other name?”
